What happened to Fu Xuan was no longer within Jing Yuan's consideration.
He stared in shock at the empty void where the Ambrosial Arbor used to be.
At this moment, Jing Yuan finally understood what the so-called 'fragility' truly felt like.
The Xianzhou had a large population, and in times of peace, they didn't really need much help with medicine. But that didn't mean the Xianzhou people didn't need to create products derived from the Arbor.
In ancient times, the Xianzhou people had also experimented with separating the Arbor, a process known as grafting.
But for well-known reasons, the Xianzhou eventually abandoned this path.
And now, even if the Xianzhou wanted to restart this path, it was no longer possible.
Jing Yuan carefully picked up a small clump of earth. In its center, a tiny life was 'thriving.'
"This is... the power of the Destruction Aeon?"
Jing Yuan suddenly remembered an idea that had surfaced on the Xianzhou a long time ago: to introduce the power of foreign Aeons to achieve some kind of balance and attrition against the blessings of the Abundance.
And in this way, to suppress the various problems brought by Yaoshi's blessings.
To put it bluntly, it was to add the external force of other Aeons to achieve balance. Then, to cultivate the product of this balance, thereby completing a gentle transformation of the Abundance's blessings.
"A new Ambrosial Arbor that contains both Destruction and Abundance, coexisting in this plant like a balance of yin and yang."
"Dan Shu! Dan Shu!"
"Dan Shu!"
Jing Yuan called out Dan Shu's name.
The empty space around him echoed with his voice, but the woman from the Alchemy Commission was no longer able to speak.
"Dan Shu—!"
"..."
The woman who had mocked the Xianzhou was gone. She would no longer debate with Jing Yuan about so-called faith or the interests of the Xianzhou, nor would she continue to speak up for those with congenital defects.
And in Jing Yuan's hands was this single, most fragile sapling of the Ambrosial Arbor.
He didn't know if the Stellaron's power had been sealed somewhere by Dan Shu, or if it had been woven into this new Arbor.
"Is this... the new Ambrosial Arbor?"
"A fragile Arbor with a ten out of ten chance of dying?"
Jing Yuan couldn't believe it. He didn't know what kind of power Dan Shu had used to shave the Arbor down like this.
He had no idea that this was a method Dan Shu had comprehended from the destruction of 'Emptiness.'
Just like the nesting dolls Noldrei had opened one by one in front of Dan Shu, Dan Shu had also used the method of Emptiness to divide the Arbor into nesting dolls.
From the inside out, it was the transformation of Abundance into Destruction.
From the outside in, it was the permeation of Destruction into Abundance.
Under the force of the Stellaron, Dan Shu had forcibly created an unprecedented wonder in the universe.
Jing Yuan carefully looked at the tree in his hand. This tree was completely different from the Ambrosial Arbor. The only two leaves on it even had two long, pointed tips.
He didn't know what kind of sapling it was, but he could clearly feel that this tree would not be easy to keep alive.
Dan Shu had actually been willing to listen to Noldrei and create such a fragile thing.
Jing Yuan was helpless. He could only carefully protect this last remnant of the Ambrosial Arbor.
Meanwhile, outside, Fu Xuan still couldn't figure out why she had fallen onto the path of seeking Yaoshi.
She couldn't understand how her divinations had become so uncontrollable.
"Actually, it's useless for you to think so much. I've always been curious why you Xianzhou people want to deal with the Abundance, yet you've never tried to start with the Abundance itself."
"If I were a Xianzhou person, I would beg the Abundance to create a world where Aeons are Aeons and humans are humans. Whether it's carbon-based or silicon-based life, just go to Yaoshi and beg It to create a universe that separates the Aeons from other life."
"In this way, most of the life in the universe would be liberated."
"Of course, it doesn't matter if you fail. Think about it, if you fail, wouldn't that be just as the Xianzhou originally intended? Then Yaoshi would be besieged by other Aeons and eventually die at their hands. That would be a good thing for you too."
Noldrei's expression remained unchanged as he said with a chilling indifference, "Yaoshi is compassionate. Creating a universe that separates the Aeons would be beneficial to other life, wouldn't it? If It doesn't, it just proves that It's not compassionate enough."
"It would also help your Xianzhou internally in cracking down on the faith of the followers of Yaoshi."
"Fu Xuan, you don't need to worry about yourself. To deal with Yaoshi, given the current state of life in the universe, we can only temporarily use the conflicts between Aeons."
"Their blessings, their paths, they are all just tools for us humans to use."
"What Emanator, what Path... they are nothing more than that. Without benefits, without Imaginary Energy, who would care about any Emanator or Path? Isn't that right?"
Noldrei's words made Fu Xuan uncomfortable. She asked with a complex expression, "Then what about Dan Shu? Was Dan Shu also just a tool you used?"
Noldrei thought for a moment and replied, "You could say that, but I only used her wisdom. I needed to see through Dan Shu whether the Xianzhou people could solve the crisis of faith under the rule of the Aeons. So I didn't mind guiding her to do what she wanted to do."
"From the looks of it, Dan Shu has done a pretty good job. At least she really wanted to solve this problem."
Fu Xuan felt that Dan Shu's solution was worse than no solution at all.
At least when there was no solution, all she had to do was think about killing.
Fu Xuan sighed and asked, "Then is this situation considered resolved? Why does it seem to be getting more and more troublesome?"
"Of course it's not resolved. The spiritual faith of a civilization is within the controllable range of that civilization. Can you Xianzhou people control the Paths opened up by the Aeons? You can't, right? So, the current situation in the universe is basically that everyone is a vassal of the Aeon civilizations."
Noldrei's words cut through the cold reality like a sharp scalpel.
Fu Xuan now understood why Noldrei wanted to know if the Xianzhou could handle its own internal faith problems. It was related to what kind of ability the Xianzhou had to face the conflict between two Aeons.
Fu Xuan said angrily, "Haven't you considered what kind of trouble this will cause?"
Noldrei shook his head again. "I've said it before. This is really the fruit of your own people's planting. I was just a bystander, pointing a few things out to you while you were working."
"You locals had a flash of inspiration and realized that this monk from afar really knows how to chant the scriptures, and even chants them well. So, you took my scriptures and used them. Can you blame me for that?"